MOORHEAD — Jason Kemp has bolstered his coaching staff with Division I experience.
The Minnesota State Moorhead men’s basketball coach has added Sean Suchomel to his staff as an assistant coach, Kemp confirmed Thursday.
Suchomel has four years of D-I experience, including two seasons as the director of basketball operations at Washington State and the same role for two seasons at Eastern Washington.
“He seemed like the perfect fit,” Kemp said.
Suchomel joins assistant coach Jack Thompson on Kemp’s staff. Thompson was also with the Dragons last season, working for former head coach Tim Bergstraser, who is now the head coach at the University of Denver.
“I wanted somebody who complemented Jack Thompson very well,” Kemp added.
Suchomel, like Kemp, is from Madison, Wisconsin, and they both also played college basketball at Wisconsin La Crosse. Those close connections along with Suchomel’s recruiting experience at the D-I level were important to Kemp.
“I think he’s going to bring something unique for us in recruiting,” Kemp said. “I do think recruiting at the Division II level right now still kind of resembles the old way of doing things, but trends kind of follow each other. So it wouldn’t shock me if there was a little more of a trickle down to how things are at the top level to Division II in the next few years.”
Kemp said the plan is to still add a graduate assistant to the staff, preferably a younger coach not far removed from a college playing career.
“I want somebody who can still play on the court and they can still relate to our guys,” said Kemp, who the Dragons hired as head coach this offseason.
A former University of Sioux Falls standout guard, Thompson was MSUM’s graduate assistant this past season when the Dragons posted a 25-9 overall record and advanced to the Division II Central Region championship game. They also won the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament.
Initially, Kemp didn’t plan to keep any of the previous staff, but the six returning Dragons players from last season gave their vote of confidence for Thompson.
“That gave me confidence at the least that I should give him a look,” Kemp said. “I kind of circled back on that.”
Kemp said Thompson helped in roster building this offseason, bringing in nine new players to join the six returners. The
Dragons have 15 projected spots
filled for next season.
“He’s the total package,” Kemp said of Thompson. “I’m excited that we were able to keep him because I do think he has potential to move up the ranks quickly in college basketball.”
Peterson covers college athletics for The Forum, including Concordia College and Minnesota State Moorhead. He also covers the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks independent baseball team and helps out with North Dakota State football coverage. Peterson has been working at the newspaper since 1996.